The Mysterious Death Of The Somerton Man Revisited

[Music] this week for the season finale of BuzzFeed unsolved true crime and in celebration of our 100th episode we pay respect to our own history by revisiting the first case we ever covered the Somerton man 100 episodes that's right what a journey hundred yeah the century mark yeah I'm destined off old cases and this is the first case it is and one that I was not here for one that I was deeply fascinated with even before the show began so I'm very excited to hear it now the first time we looked at this case Brent was still alive and you know we didn't really go over the case in the way that we traditionally do in this show through we didn't really present any theories it was a very much a brief look at it we're gonna take a little bit more of a robust look at the case at large go into some theories and try and crack open this cold case with a little bit more I guess about what the hills magnifying glass so this will be a more thorough up and down okay let's get into it on December 1st 1948 16 year-old Neal day was riding horses with a friend along Somerton Beach in Adelaide Australia I didn't want to jump into the story this quickly but I did want to say it sounds fun to ride horses on the beach with a friend I rode a horse one time I think he was in Hawaii I had a horse whose nickname was crazy that was actually his name and then he went rogue and then tried to buck me off and ran into a little creek what happened to you I'd like to think I survived oh oh I just started fading away right now what if your world just started to solving into vapor Oh like yeah like like I was being hypnotized by Mysterio yeah your best oh that's at the end of the sixth sense and like it all just could use a minute it just cuts to a montage of a bunch of times where it's obvious I remember all of my bones breaking when they passed the body of a man lying in the sand the friends didn't pay much attention thinking the man was simply napping on the beach when they came back to find the man in the exact same position they discovered he was actually dead the man was clean-shaven wearing a dry and neatly pressed suit and tie oddly all of the tags of his clothes had been removed and he was found with no belongings or form of identification his fingerprints were not in any database and no one came forward to identify the man spy probably why you immediately goes by well I don't know how robust our fingerprint database is at this point like nowadays they get everybody's little fingerprints from their baby in the first episode I actually posited I believed that every baby was fingerprinted when they were born and therefore their their their fingerprints were in a database I don't know if that's actually in place now either way I don't know if they did that to this man obviously they didn't because there was no identifying marks or he had them burned off like that machine they have a minimum behind black would always look so goddamn painful feel like we've referenced that on this show before we have hey hundredth episode no rules call back baby my mom also said that you know the scanner thing at the grocery store she said if I put my fingers on it you would erase my finger bumps funny as hell she once took a wig put it hanging out of the washing machine and told me my mom had been abducted and then my real mom was stuck in the washing machine and I could go look for proof and then she showed me the washing machine and I saw the wig sticking out and I cried your mom's the funniest lady I've ever met a post-mortem revealed the man had a strikingly enlarged spleen an internal bleeding in his stomach and liver there were no indications of violence and no traces of poison symptoms of poisoning such as vomiting diarrhea or convulsions were also not present the coroner also found a pasty in his stomach in the official publication of the investigation the coroner wrote quote I am unable to say who the deceased was I am unable to say how he died or what was the cause of death and I wouldn't say this guy blew it he's examining an alien spy corpse it's a you think it's an alien is that one of the theories no it's not but I'm just saying it's a very I can't think sure I'm gonna take this off cuz are you toasty it seems I don't know yeah season finale I could do what I want I suppose I've never even been back there you haven't have you ever left that chair no they turned the lights out and I remain like animatronic so he is a bad corner whatever he has he's got nothing to go off of he was dealt pretty bad cards yeah in January 1949 a month after the body was found a suitcase was uncovered in the cloakroom of the Adelaide railway station the suitcase dropped off the day before the body was found contained among other odds and ends clothing with the labels removed and a waxed thread not sold in Australia but of the type used to repair the trousers found on the body many of these objects indicated that the man whoever he was had recently been in the United States the name Keane ending in E and Keane ending in n were found on some of the items according to an Adelaide newspaper authorities concluded the named Keane had been left on the belongings to intentionally obscure the man's true identity look I'm not a spy I have never need to disclaim that and once is that perhaps the easier way to obscure the identity would be to not put any names on it thank you could you imagine your gangly ass chasing down another spy through a real ways to do it how ridiculous that I could do it I'd be like jaws from from your feet bounding over a little children's heads amazing I could do that I'm very fast you fell while walking rippling and you also fell well walk it was a big rock and I walked into it so anytime there's any element that's in them it's rapid that's the only time I've fallen in my life how many bones have you broken [ __ ] zero oh really yeah I mean we never broken any bones in April 1949 police came upon a mysterious clue that had been overlooked in the four plus months since the body was found sewn into the waistband of the man's pants was a secret pocket which contained a tightly rolled piece of paper with the Persian words tammim should typed on it the paper appeared to be torn from an 11th century book of Persian poems the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam or simply the Rubaiyat beams of the Rubaiyat center around life's transience and in English tammim should roughly translates to the end or finished the discovery of the secret pocket in its haunting message was enough for coroner Tomas Cleland to declare the man's death was quote not natural and this to mom should think should shed some light on this situation what do you think about that a secret pocket and a secret little note from a rare book so you know I love that whoever is responsible for this whether it be the corpse itself or someone who murdered this person they really could have had a successful job in the current era as like an Arg advertising agent you ever get sucked down one of those rabbit holes I mean sure they're likely orgies alternate reality games sure man movies coming out you send some videos out on the internet get people what's going on here what's going on here oh there's a new Fast and the Furious film how about instead of talking about alternate reality we talk about reality I don't care for it I'm surprised at you to be quite honest because you are a big fan of spy tales I'm serving you one up on a platter here I'm still enjoying the story yes what do you want for me I don't know there's like maybe some insight into what it may mean we don't know we never know on July 23rd three months after police discovered the tammim should paper a businessman who had read about the unidentified body in the paper came to police with a copy of the Rubaiyat the man claimed that he found the book in the back seat of his car after parking it near Somerton Beach with the windows down sure enough a section had been torn of the last page of the book that perfectly fit the piece found in the unknown man's pants on the back cover of the book police discovered five lines of letters apparently a secret code and what appeared to be a phone number to this day the code has never been cracked and the Australian Navy determined it to be virtually unbreakable explaining quote there is an insufficient number of letters for definite conclusions to be based on analysis the letters do not constitute any kind of simple cipher or code a reasonable explanation would be that the lines are the initial letters of words of a verse of poetry or such like end quote yeah no I got nothing it's a bunch of letters you know I actually when we first covered this case I did pour over this code for a bit and I don't have any code-cracking capability so I looked at it for probably a good hour strained my little eyeballs and was like mysterious while the code failed to yield any new leads the phone number found in the back of the Rubaiyat led investigators to 27 year-old nurse Jesse Joe Thompson's doorstep just hundreds of meters from where the body was found eight months prior Thompson admitted to once owning a copy of the Rubaiyat but claimed she'd given the copy to a man named Alfred Boxall upon investigation box'll turned out to still be alive and in possession of a fully intact copy of the Rubaiyat by this time the still anonymous body had been buried but not before a plaster cast had been made for investigative purposes according to Detective Sergeant Lionel lien when Joe Thompson was shown the cast in the hopes of identifying it she looked like she was about to faint nevertheless Thompson denied knowing the man Thompson died in 2007 still claiming she did not know the man found on the beach lots to unpack there yeah the book thing is bit of an enigma obviously how many people have a copy of this book maybe it's a page-turner I guess so what's interesting to me is that Joe Thompson clearly recognizes this person no one sees a picture of a person faints gets back up and goes run on that person well she was shown a cast of a dead man's face I don't know maybe she's got some hangups man perfectly normal I don't think she's suspicious with an unnamed dead body an 11th century book of Persian poems and an uncrackable code it's time to lay out some theories surrounding what happened to the Somerton man our first theory is that the Somerton man was responsible for his own death and killed himself this could mean he put the paper reading tammim should in his own pocket to be found as a sort of suicide note supporting this theory are the similar elements of another suicide that of immigrant George Marshall in June 1945 Marshall was found dead in Mossman Australia after poisoning himself with barbituates with his corpse was another copy of the Rubaiyat while another dead man turning up in Australia with the same collection of Persian poems may sound like too large of a coincidence to overlook the Reuben apparently had become quite popular in Australia during World War two since the work deals with life and mortality it's possible both men could have had similar inspiration to have at least a piece of the book with them during their final moments read this book if it's a ring o 7-days ring situation I don't remember much from it except that when you watch the VHS tape you get a call saying you're gonna die in seven days so in this case and this is but yeah that's our entirely plausible scenario that anyone who reads this book what let me let's take that back eyes on a beach what do you think about this theory at large though possible if he was this I mean it's weird to explain the fingerprints obviously or maybe he'd been compromised he knew it was coming to an end because he is a spy and he figured just take control of the situation that's maybe I could see that I don't know I don't know if this is the strongest theory to me yeah our next theory is that the man was murdered by Russian spies the body was found at the dawn of the Cold War and paranoia about Soviet spies loomed large a few months before the discovery of the corpse a Soviet embassy spy ring had been uncovered in Canberra Australia a statement given in 1959 by a man who was on Somerton Beach the night the unidentified man died claims to have seen quote a man carrying another on his shoulder near the water's edge end quote in 2013 a theory came out that Joe Thompson the woman whose phone number was found in the back of that copy of the Rubaiyat may have been a Soviet spy the woman who publicly suggested this theory was none other than Kate Thompson Joe Thompson's daughter in a 60 Minutes interview Kate Thompson said her mother had quote a dark side a very strong dark side she said to me she knew who he was but she wasn't going to let that out of the bag so to speak there's always that fear that I've thought that maybe she was responsible for his death end quote yeah that would be hard to wrap my head around no my mom did pretend that she was abducted wait your mom's not a murderer if your mom's a murderer she's an Isis murderer I've ever met yeah she's a regular Norman Bates everyone thought he was the nicest guy they shouldn't have though that guy was a creep yeah everyone I always thought that was larger he's a sweet man he's got so many stuffed birds there was a bunch of red flags in the first act of that love the way how he doesn't blink yeah sweet guy I love how he smiles in moments where it doesn't make sense to smile according to Kate she would hear her mother speaking in rushed quieted Russian to someone over the phone her mother had also mentioned she was teaching English to newly arrived immigrants from Russia Kate remembered her mother at one point seeing something along the lines of quote oh I can still understand Russian end quote though she never mentioned where she learned it hang on a second do you think that her mother went to the same school of mothering as your mother I see that her mother's playing a little funny prank what's the funniest thing to do in the world if you have kids I mean kids are a lot of work I Americ them into thinking you are a spy yeah or that's the funniest [ __ ] in the world trick them into thinking you're an alien same train of that's exactly right either this woman is a spy or one of the funniest mothers I've ever heard of it's possible you know what I would say that seems impossible until I realize my own mother did that to me so then maybe maybe she is just playing off on a little gag sounds like that's one funny mummy oh yeah if the Somerton man met his end thanks to Russian spies whether Joe Thompson was involved or not there's also the question as to how he died at the time a well-known professor Sir Cedric Stanton Hicks proposed that the man had indeed been poisoned but with an extremely rare variety which would decompose soon after death this would of course explain the absence of poison found in the corpse in court Hicks refused to say the name of the poisons he was referring to aloud believing they were too dangerous sir Hicks did however write two types of poison down on paper and gave it to the coroner digitalis and strophanthus now you're just reading it aloud all right [Laughter] you really turned the corner on that one it should be noted that Joe Thompson worked as a nurse and perhaps could have known about and had access to some rarer poisons such as those written down by Hicks while spies might explain the mysterious code in the back of the Rubaiyat there is admittedly no physical evidence Joe Thompson was ever involved with Russians in any capacity much less associated with espionage still one could always argue this only means Thompson was a very good spy you can't get away from the fact that her number was written in the back of the book that was linked to the dude that makes me think she was not a very good spy oops yeah walk out there with my phone number probably not a good spot do you think of anything worse to leave behind at a crime scene than your numbers will leave your business card spy or your note yeah I did it it is me or she just has very bad luck and somebody took her no I don't get yeah I can't get around the fact that her name is in the book that's linked to him so be that as it may I don't know maybe he was peeping on her was like or lovey-dovey or he's maybe later we might talk about how they might have been romantically linked and he had her number written down maybe he was reading the Rubaiyat at a bar strikes up a conversation with a lovely lady she gives him her number she writes it down in the book because that's what he has at the time maybe that's what it is all right maybe we cracked it maybe she's not a spy maybe she just struck up a conversation she's got a heart our next theory is that the man was killed as the result of a romantic relationship gone awry this is a relatively recent theory and it comes thanks to the tireless work of university of adelaide engineering professor Derek Abbott Abbott discovered that about a year before the man's body turned up on Somerton Beach Joe Thomson had given birth to a son named Robin Thompson Robin grew up to be a professional ballet dancer which meant it was easy for Abbott to track down photos of the man based on photos Abbott found that Robin had a similar strange ear feature to the Somerton man additionally both Robin and the man found on the beach were missing their incisor teeth a genetically inherited trait this information along with the fact that Joe Thompson was unmarried the year Robin was born let abbott to conclude joe and the Somerton man quote had a liaison together and she had Robin and quote by the time Abbott made this connection Robin had already died however Abbott was able to track down one Rachel Egan the biological daughter of Robin Thompson who is living in Queensland in what might be the craziest reveal in history full of strange twists Abbott and Egan eventually fell in love and got married I love it that's sweet that's crazy that's something that's never happened in the show before the person who's theorizing about a case meets one of the people he's theorizing about and it falls in love with that person love it one thing that just crossed my mind is that not that but people ask you all the time how you met your significant other you imagine it was pretty good also what do you think about first off Joe Thompson having the son Robin who bears a resemblance to the mystery man I think I think yeah I'll buy it I'm there cuz that that will fit my thing that I was saying earlier about the number being something he scribbled down to the book when he met her at a bar or something like that I've never met anyone who who didn't have incisors you know I don't walk up to everyone and inspect their mouth like a horse that's what my dad does in late 2018 while inspecting the original plastic cast police made of the body the same one that allegedly made his grandmother in law nearly faint Abbott found three hairs which he believes could contain DNA evidence of a genetic link to his wife if the Somerton man was her son's dead father that could explain Joe Thompson's near fainting upon seeing the plaster cast while the hairs had discovered may not be able to provide a conclusive answer it is the most promising lead in the case so far even if professor Abbott is able to prove his wife's relationship to the Somerton man many questions remain unanswered such as who he was how he was killed and why he was left dead on the beach Joe Thompson or another man for instance the one spotted carrying a body on the beach could have been angry at the Somerton man for not taking responsibility for the child that resulted from his love affair or perhaps Joe Thompson the dead man or even both were spies and weren't supposed to get involved in a relationship if the man was Robin Thompson's father and Rachel Egan's grandfather perhaps the biggest question of all is why was Joe Thompson so unwilling to identify the body it feels like we have a little piece of this puzzle enough that I'm satisfied sure there's a mystery but out of that mystery was born love are you the type of guy that gets like 75 percent done with a jigsaw puzzle and go yeah that's enough I could kind of see the picture I get it yeah it kind of looks like the box we could walk away from this right you're never gonna finish the whole thing anyways I'm gonna go usually a piece missing or something most frustrating thing in the world why bother you know where it's been over 71 years since two friends riding horses along the Australian beach came upon a dead man lying in the sand despite decades of effort and no shortage of cryptic clues the man's identity his killer's identity and the way the man died are all still unknown perhaps new DNA evidence and the steady march of time will finally provide some answers to the many questions surrounding this case but for the mystery of the Somerton man remains unsolved I feel like both he and Joe Thompson may have been spies yeah that'd be cool and that is the reason why she could not say the identity of the man because it would both compromised her and him and the resulting family that is my theory and I'm sticking to it I mean it's highly probable because spies you know it's probably easier to love another spy here's a question at large that encompasses the whole series if you Shayne Maday disappeared under mysterious circumstances or you died and we didn't know how it happened would you want people to know how it happened no not for your loved ones you know I I'd prefer that they knew what happened but I'm gonna tell them right now don't worry about it obviously as a living person I care about my loved ones I want them to be safe if I disappear if I'm still alive you know I'll pop out there eventually I'll show up somewhere and be like hey Here I am sorry about that chilling in Costa Rica sucking on coconuts but if I disappear for sure and you don't see me I'm dead 100 percent don't worry about it all right maybe I got that sky burial I've always been hoping for yeah what about you of course I'd want people to know what happened to me not for me but because it would drive I know my mom insane to not know what happened yeah of course it'd be tough for the loved ones and I sympathize it's not on me to look into your disappearance though right I can just I would hope you would I'm not qualified I'd look into your disappearance very kind of you huge waste of time well that does it for this season I guess we'll see you guys for some ghost hunting in supernatural another incredible season of many many questions and zero answers another season of mysteries yeah well almost forgot my coat [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 5,702,782

Keywords: PL-Unsolved, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime-S6, SffZ, buzzfeed ryan, buzzfeed shane, buzzfeed true crime, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved network, buzzfeed unsolved true crime, buzzfeed unsolved true crime season 6, buzzfeedunsolvednetwork, cold case, creepy, investigation, mystery, ryan bergara, shane madej, somerton man, somerton man cold case, true crime, true crime 100th episode, unexplained, unsolved mysteries

Id: RLNTGsxvsao

Length: 24min 43sec (1483 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/TheManWithNoName88]

I thought we all agreed this was Soviet extra terrestrials

[u/uz3r]

I like this story but I’ve heard it all a 100 times, can someone just tell us when there is a legitimate development?

[u/asp7]

he travelled forward in time to a tamam shud gig in the 70s, had too much of the green stuff and made a hash of programming his time travelling device for the trip home.